Watton, East Riding of Yorkshire

Historical Description

Watton, a small village and a parish in the E.R. Yorkshire, 1¾ mile SSW of Hutton-Cranswick railway station, and 5½ miles S by W of Great Driffield. Post town, Hull; money order office, Cranswick; telegraph office, Driffield. Acreage, 4746; population of the civil parish, 311; of the ecclesiastical, 522. The Earl of Londesborough is lord of the manor. A nunnery stood here in 686, and was destroyed by the Danes about 870. A Gilbertine abbey was founded on the site of the nunnery by Eustace Fitz-John in 1149, went at the dissolution to the Dudleys, and is now represented by a portion of its buildings, in Early Tudor architecture, converted into a dwelling-house known as Watton Abbey, and the residence of the Beckitt family. The living is a vicarage, united with Beswick, in the diocese of York; net value, £150. The church is ancient, consists of chancel, nave, and western tower, and was restored in 1888.

Church Records

Findmypast, in conjunction with various Archives, Local Studies, and Family History Societies have the following parish records online for Watton:

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for the East Riding of Yorkshire is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Watton are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following East Riding newspapers online:

• Hull Daily Mail
• Hull Packet
• Driffield Times
• Hull Advertiser and Exchange Gazette
• Beverley and East Riding Recorder